Performed by Christian Dillig (piano - Sauter grand piano)
Tarantelle (in French) or Tarantella (in Italian, English or German) - Its the rousing and brilliant final piece from the 12-part Album for the Young (Album für die Jugend op. 62) by the German composer of Polish-Czech origin Xaver Schwarwenka (1850-1924). The tempo marking is Molto vivo (very fast). That is certainly an elastic term. I choose a sporty tempo, also in coordination with other classical tarantella compositions. The tarantelle or tarantella is a dance from southern Italy from the region of Taranto in Apulia. Whether the dance has anything to do with the tarantula spider, which is named after the city of Taranto, remains controversial. The tarantella is said to have been played to heal a spider bite. The bitten person was supposed to dance the poison excessive out of himself until he was exhausted. If the work was composed for school use, a performance at a much slower tempo is also conceivable and appropriate.
During his lifetime, Xaver Schwarwenka was a very well-known composer, a friend of Johannes Brahms - Franz Liszt was the godfather of his daughter, and his works were eagerly performed throughout Europe. Perhaps it is because Scharwenka's works hardly go beyond the tonal language of composers such as Schumann or Mendelssohn, to whom he could certainly lend a hand, and were less progressive than those of his better-known contemporaries today, that he was almost completely forgotten soon after his death, even if there is something of a small Scharwenka renaissance again today. Be that as it may, under the influence of Peter Tchaikovsky's Children's Album and probably familiar from his youth with the mother of all Albums for the young by Robert Schumann, Scharwenka also wrote an Album for the young in 1885, which was published in several editions and played in many countries. I have proven that the highly talented Nikolai Amani, a composition pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov who unfortunately died far too early, refers directly to Scharwenka's youth album several times in his album pour la Jeunesse, which is also in 12 parts and which I have recorded in its entirety.
I also recorded the Barcarolle from this album by Scharwenka
ua-cam.com/video/AvEP5WRNW3I/v-deo.html
#romanticpiano #scharwenka #albumfortheyoung